PokerStars & Full Tilt To Operate Together From May 17

The proposed merger of Full Tilt and PokerStars will take place by the end of this month.

According to Michael Josem, Head of PokerStars and Full Tilt Public Relations, players can expect to play on a central network from May 17 onwards.

The merger of PokerStars and Full Tilt was announced in February by their parent company Amaya Inc, as a measure to boost operational efficiencies and increase player liquidity.

The company had stated at that point in time that separate brand interfaces would be maintained so players would be able to log in through the Full Tilt software but would need to use PokerStars log-in credentials to proceed.

Josem stated that Full Tilt players who will be affected by the merger will receive emails with specific information relating to their accounts. In a statement, Josem said,

In coming days, Full Tilt players will be emailed direct and personal information on how this will affect them specifically, which depends on a variety of factors including their jurisdiction and the status of their PokerStars account (if any).

He added that Full Tilt players who already use the PokerStars platform would face a seamless transition. All their account details including points, cash balances would be transferred automatically and players would be able to log directly into PokerStars to access them.

Full Tilt was acquired by PokerStars in 2012 at a time when Full Tilt was one of the top poker sites, coming in second in terms of market share. However in the past few years, the brand has witnessed a steady decline in its player base as well as player traffic.

The impact of the merger on player liquidity is thus expected to be very minimal especially considering the dominance of PokerStars in the industry. Player statistics from the PokerScout Online Poker Traffic Report confirms that PokerStars is the number one poker site in the world and Full Tilt Poker is currently in 14th place.

The report stated that based on the latest data PokerStars has around 13,000 ring-game players on a 7 day rolling average while Full Tilt has just 575 ring-game players based on a 7 day rolling average. 888poker, the second biggest poker site has around 2,100 ring-game players over a seven day rolling average and has a lot of catching up to do with PokerStars.

The merger of Full Tilt with PokerStars is expected to strengthen the PokerStars brand even further and give it even more global market dominance in the online poker industry.